VBS

I think I will just always be behind. And out of order. The out of order drives me crazy. But, there isn't anything to do about it but move on. We have been so busy this month with 2 trips to Rochester, a fourth of July celebration, Vacation Bible School, a Heidt family reunion (post still coming about this) on top of everything else we have going on.

Anyway, our church did Vacation Bible School and I was the teacher for all the kids again this year (three years running now). John was roped into being the general runner/getter as well as official photographer each night. We were both exhuasted by the end of the night. As was William. Which is why I'm posting here about it. William loved VBS with all his heart, which is why I'm posting about it here. Technically, William is too young for VBS. However, there were only 2 little girls signed up in the preschool age group and the director asked us (yes, she asked us) if William could come a year early to VBS.

So, John was running around, I was teaching, teaching teaching, and William was running around with excitement until he would collapse on the way home. Several nights he even commented "I'm tired." which is unheard of around these parts. Amelia spent most of her time being passed between different moms who were helping with the various events. She was very spoiled by the end of the week. She forgot that sometimes it is nice to just lay on the floor. Or not be in someone's arms for hours on end.

Amelia hanging out with Mama in the nursery between groups
William liked nothing better than to be on the stage in front of everyone else during the opening.
Playing games with the other preschoolers. Otherwise known as: not listening and making the teenagers in charge of the games mad.
A group effort to help William run the sling shot.
William shoots water balloons from the sling shot with some help. I'm not sure how I feel about him learning to use this at such an early age. His sister may bear the brunt of learning this skill.
A safer skill is blowing bubbles - still requires some assistance to ensure he doesn't eat the bubbles. The girl in yellow here is William's teacher, bless her heart. I think she was more tired than any of us by the end of the evening every night. She was wonderful with him and so patient!
Bubbles are fun!

Sibling Sweetness

Sometimes having two is so wonderful it takes my breath away. Other times it is so much work, that I don't have time to take that breath anyways.
On this particular day, I was holding Amelia and talking to her and she was talking back. William wanted to get in on the fun and requested to hold "our baby sister" (and yes, that is what we call her - she belongs to all of us). So, I put her in his lap and waited 2.45 seconds

John rolls his eyes at me, but I like to dress them in their "little sister" and "Big Brother" shirts on the same day. And no, I'm not trying to tell you anything this time.

William loves to hold his sister and help with her - he is such a sweet brother (most of the time)

Sometimes it works out so Amelia can join in our book reading routine before bedtime. She already likes to read books!

I know it looks like they are sleeping, but they are reading books together in William's bed.

Rochester

We were back in Rochester for the weekend July 10-13th to see more family that was in town (and yes, we are crazy). We got a lot of visiting in and enjoyed some beautiful weather outside! These pictures are all out of order, but I don't think it makes a difference. Here is a sampling of what we did:

We visited Grandpa Heidt and William showed off his Big Brothering Skills
Amelia got to meet her other Uncle Mike for the first time. At first they just check each other out from afar...
But, then they couldn't help themselves
While Amelia snuggled with Uncle Mike, William colored with Grandpa. Or maybe Grandpa colored while William watched.
The snuggling
We also went for a walk in the neighborhood. We noticed that Mike and William have similar taste in clothes (or Mama and Aunt Tien?). Both of them are wearing gray shirts, brown cargo shorts, white socks and tennis shoes.
Amelia enjoyed her walk from the stroller
William enjoyed examining each and every object we encountered along the way. I think we were walking about .00000000000056789 mph. Here he is playing with a helicopter seed and trying to make it fly.

Amelia and my aunt Sheila (Amelia's great Aunt)
Two smiling faces
Saturday night was declared "Game Night" at the McGarry house. We were so excited to see Uncle Mike again (it gets confusing sometimes having two uncle Mikes and a cousin Mike). Here Uncle Mike is working on his throwing/catching skills with William
More throwing/catching - can you see the ball mid air? PS He doesn't catch the ball...
Maybe wearing a glove will help with the catching part?
My dad wearing his party hat for Game Night (or a plant basket if you want to get technical)
My Uncle Bobby hard at work shucking the corn.
My dad hard at work sweeping the deck in preparation for "Game Night"
Grandpa and his girl Amelia relaxing on the deck
Aunt Megan came too! William talks about both Uncle Mike and Aunt Megan ALL the time. He likes to talk about what they did together the last time he saw them and how much it would be to see them again.
Uncle Mike also took this opportunity to introduce William to squirt guns. Big squirt guns.
And I'll say he loved every minute of it!
I'm not sure if it qualifies as a squirt gun when you require a hose to fill it up
My cousin Chrissie (or honorary Aunt Chrissie according to William) drove in for Game Night also!
Amelia was pretty excited about that...
So was Grandpa Kevin. I guess I should quit being amazed at what people will do to get a little smile from a baby...
The party flag is up (blocks the bright sun from my parent's deck in the late afternoon)
William has talked Megan and Chrissie into setting up a race track for him to play with
He also talked Aunt Megan into crawling through the tunnel (under the coffee table) in a skirt. More than once

William read books with my aunt (his great aunt) Sheila

William and Sheila reading

We went for a walk with Grandma Kim

We played some games. William's contribution was a demand for Real Birthday Cake (with some help from his daddy)

We blew bubbles with Grandpa

We blew bubbles with Grandma Kim

We played puppets with Grandpa Kevin. A lot.

My cousin Chrissie. Chrissie recently moved to Wisconsin from Ohio to complete more veterinary training. This is the closest she has ever lived to our family - she can come and visit for the weekend now (although she is SO busy with her training, it won't be very often)

My uncle Bobby holding Amelia. This face wasn't his fault - she was CRABBY.

That's better - uncle Bobby showing off his magical baby skills.

Chrissie and Amelia

These two were very cute together...

So happy!